U.S. President Donald Trump gives a statement on Jerusalem, during which he recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., December 6, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

BREAKING: Trump officially recognizes Jerusalem as capital of Israel

CAIRO – 6 December 2017: United States President Donald Trump has officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel Wednesday during a televised speech from the White House, Washington D.C.

An hour earlier, Trump declared in a speech before the Cabinet meeting, "I think it’s long overdue. Many presidents have said they want to do something and they didn’t do it," U.S. President Donald Trump said in a Cabinet meeting ahead of his midday speech on Israel, according to Reuters.

In retrospect: Consequences of Trump’s decision Egypt Today has compiled reactions expressed earlier before the confirmation of Trump’s decision below.

International newspaper on Wednesday had mixed reactions to Donald Trump’s expected decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announce that he is moving the American Embassy there from Tel Aviv.

By upending nearly seven decades of American foreign policy, the U.S. president is “potentially destroying his efforts to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians,” The New York Times reported.

Trump’s decision was described in the American newspaper as a high-risk foray into the thicket of the Middle East, driven not by diplomatic calculations but by a campaign promise.

Meanwhile, Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit strongly condemned earlier the American administration's intention to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel with the relocation of the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Aboul Gheit warned against the “dangerous magnitude of the negative consequences” of this decision, suggesting that the decision, which will stand in the way of peace, illustrates that the U.S. does not digest the situation properly.

The Secretary-General said in a Wednesday press statement, “Jerusalem has its special status in the hearts of the Arab Christian or Muslims,” describing the move as a futile attempt to manipulate its fate.

Aboul Gheit continued, “I was staggered by the involvement of the U.S. administration in the unjustified provocation of the feelings of 360 million Arabs, and 1.5 billion Muslims with the sole purpose to make Israel content.”

Israeli occupation authorities have raised an Israeli flag in the area surrounding the Dome of the Rock Mosque after tensions in the region heightened following the U.S. president’s decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, provoking Palestinians.

Demonstrations sparked in many Palestinian cities, protesting against Trump’s decision to move the U.S. Embassy, a move that would formally recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Protesters burned photos of both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declaring their rejection of the decision and raising signs reading “No to the Judaization of Jerusalem.”

On Wednesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned the U.S. President that moving the embassy to Jerusalem would yield negative consequences, which adds Palestine to the growing list of nations who have rejected the decision including Egypt, Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.